1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to heat dissipation in semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to a structure and fabrication process which provides one or more thermally conducting studs in a semiconductor device to dissipate heat therefrom.
2. Background Description
Thermal conduction and heat dissipation is of great need in semiconductor devices due to the presence of the thermal heating from self heating of semiconductor components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,791, issued to Chi et al. and entitled "On-chip Peltier Cooling Devices on a Micromachined Membrane Structure" discloses a Peltier cooling device generally useful in cooling electronic devices, especially those which are formed of high Tc superconducting materials. The Peltier device is formed on a micromachined membrane structure to assure good thermal isolation and to intimately integrate the cooling device with the electronic device it is to cool. The membrane is formed by selective, controlled etching of a bulk substrate of a material such as silicon. The Peltier device is formed by selectively implanting or depositing appropriate dopants to form n-doped and p-doped segments on the membrane with a junction between the differently doped segments at the approximate mid-point of the membrane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,740, issued to Miyaguchi et al. and entitled "Solid-State Imaging Device Having Temperature Sensor" discloses a solid state image sensor that comprises a chip in a package. An image sensor is formed in the chip. The package has a main body, a light receiving glass plate fixed to the main body, and a buffer member arranged between the main body and light receiving glass plate. The buffer member is fixed to the light receiving glass plate and to the main body. The thermal expansion coefficient of the buffer member is substantially equal to that of the light receiving glass plate, so that the light receiving plate is fixed to the main body even though the temperature of the imaging device changes. Therefore, the adhesion is maintained between the main body and the light receiving glass plate and the airtightness in the package.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,783, issued to Nakanishi et al. and entitled "Integrated Circuit Substrate With Cooling Accelerator Substrate" discloses an electronic device that includes an integrated circuit device, comprising a first substrate including an integrated electronic semiconductor circuit and a second substrate including a cooling accelerator for accelerating a heat energy exchange between the integrated electronic semiconductor circuit and a cooling fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,327, issued to Famworth and entitled "Process for Manufacturing Semiconductor Device Structures Cooled by Peltier Junctions and Electrical Interconnect Assemblies Therefor" discloses a method for utilizing a single series operating current for providing operating power to an electronic device while simultaneously increasing or decreasing the cooling in a manner directly proportional to increases and decreases in power consumption and heat dissipation from the electronic device. The electronic device is connected to a first power supply terminal and a Peltier cooling junction is connected to one side of the electronic device. A Peltier heating junction is connected to one side of the Peltier cooling junction remote from the electronic device, and a heat sink is connected between the Peltier heating junction and a second power supply terminal. In this manner, a single series electrical circuit may be used for simultaneously providing operating power to the electronic device and cooling the electronic device in proportion to heat dissipation requirements therefor. Advantageously, the Peltier cooling and heating junctions may be formed in a planar fashion on the surface of a semiconductor die and used to cool integrated circuits which are fabricated within the die.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,381, issued to Hazen and entitled "Apparatus for Cooling Circuits" discloses an apparatus for cooling circuit modules by use of a thermoelectric device which comprises a series of semiconductor regions and etched copper conductors designed to conduct heat in a specified direction by means of the Peltier effect. The thermoelectric device is sandwiched between two layers of a polymer based, thermally conductive dielectric such as the dielectric used in the manufacture of Thermal Clad.TM.. The hot layer of Thermal Clad.TM. (i.e., the layer that receives heat) is laminated directly to a heat sink. The cold layer of Thermal Clad.TM. is laminated directly to a cold plate which is, in turn, coupled to the circuit module.